SpaceVenture - Space Quest spiritual successor by Two Guys from Andromeda

[Alex]

Dead ends work well enough when the game is quick to navigate, like a text adventure, I think.

 

[bertram_tung]

Dead ends work well enough when the game is quick o navigate, like a text adventure, I think.

I don't think dead ends are ever acceptable unless you did something REALLY dumb. If you get to a point in the game where you cannot progress and the game didn't really hint that might happen, it's poor design. Having to reload an earlier save to continue should not be a "gameplay feature".

Nothing wrong with deaths though. Those can be fun!

 

[Alex]

Dead ends work well enough when the game is quick o navigate, like a text adventure, I think.

I don't think dead ends are ever acceptable unless you did something REALLY dumb. If you get to a point in the game where you cannot progress and the game didn't really hint that might happen, it's poor design. Having to reload an earlier save to continue should not be a "gameplay feature".

Nothing wrong with deaths though. Those can be fun!

Each to his own, but I think they worked pretty well in Deadline.

 

[taxalot]

Whether they work well or not completely depend on your expectations. "Zombie situations" as they are apparently called were perfectly accceptable when you had a lot of time to give a game and few money to spend. Read reviews of the past and you see that they were not actually despised.

With our current attention span however, it appears completely unacceptable.

 

[Alex]

Whether they work well or not completely depend on your expectations. "Zombie situations" as they are apparently called were perfectly accceptable when you had a lot of time to give a game and few money to spend. Read reviews of the past and you see that they were not actually despised.

With our current attention span however, it appears completely unacceptable.

I think the biggest problem with dead ends, at least in classic games, is that in a lot of those, you cycle through several different puzzles at the same time. For instance, take Simon the Sorcerer. That game has several separate puzzles you need to solve in order to get into Sordid's tower. As you walk around, you begin to get an inkling of what those puzzles are and what items you can use. But because the puzzles are all mixed together, it can be really hard to figure it all out. Like, if you are really focused on trying to get the milrith, you may not realize you need to work on the paleontologist puzzle first. It can be a lot harder seeing how things are supposed to fit together when you have not one or two, but several puzzles you may tackle at once, with some of those possibly affecting others.

Now, I don't mean this mix up is a bad thing. Modern adventure games mostly try to avoid this, and are a lot simpler as a result, I think. You can see this really clear in the new Sam and Max, where you usually solve one or at most two puzzles at a time. But at the same time, adding dead ends to these games can make them a whole lot more difficult, because you can never be quite sure if you broke the game or if you just haven't figured out something. Usually, once you have visited all accessible areas at a game stage, you will begin to walk around, looking for stuff you might have missed (an exit, an item, a conversation option, etc). This is frequently where you spend most of your time in the classic adventures. And it can be really frustrating.

I dunno, but I guess dead ends work better when your game is set up more like a big machine. I think you can really see what I am trying to say in Maniac Mansion. Like, the mansion is like this big toy. There are several things you can do to it, like turn off the power, or draw someone to open the door, or drain the pool. And a lot of the puzzles are about changing different parts of the house so that something happens. The puzzles here aren't separate threads of different stories that sometimes interfere with one another. They are more like parts of a room. You are like a blind man that must go around the room feeling your way and trying to understand what the room is. But once the pieces fall together, your path is more or less logical. Instead of a lengthy, unrelated story, the puzzles are very connected, and this means that it isn't so hart to figure what interferes with what. And Deadline is much like this, because even if you have different people and different time tables, they all come together to explain the murder. In this kind of game, dead ends can actually help you understand how the machine works, how it all comes together, rather than just increasing the time you spend walking around looking for a clue. Because, when you fall in a dead end in this kind of game, it is pretty much an aspect of the "machine" rather than just story fiat.

Anyway, sorry about the long rant.

 

[bertram_tung]

July 1st Update: Two weeks = demo delivery!

Update #75 · Jul 1, 2013 · 12 comments

Trust me when I say, nothing more would make me happier than to be giving you link info to download the SpaceVenture playable demo today, but unfortunately we'll need a little more time. How much time you ask?
Good news on that, the next update should have it! We are projecting to have it done for you by the July 16th update!
THE HEAT IS ON TO GET THIS THING OUT!

 

[Whisky]

ITZ HERE

http://guysfromandromeda.com/svrewards/rewards/

 

[Crooked Bee]

Oh my, I totally forgot to sign up for an account on their website.

Somebody please share your impressions of the demo.

 

[bertram_tung]

Just played the demo. Obviously it's an alpha so it's got bugs. Lots of them. But that's to be expected. Overall I like the visual design/music/atmosphere/writing. There's no voice acting yet. I knew I would like all that stuff though. Loved the roger wilco cameo in the supply closet. Glad to see a little cussing. ("Dead ass") ...The thing I wasn't sure about, and after playing, still am not sure about, is the gameplay.

I'm a bit concerned about the apparent heavy emphasis on "swiping" things. There were three or four puzzles in the demo where that was a big emphasis. It just seems like a lame mobile gaming feature that shouldn't be in a pc game. I was always annoyed that they were porting this to mobile platforms because I was worried something like this would happen. All of these "swipe" puzzles seem to be hard to find the right hotspot for. It's not terrible but it's a bit poorly implemented. I'm sure they'll work on it, although I'd feel better if this "swipe" gimmick wasn't such a big apparent focus.

random other thoughts:

I can see how the dog sidekick will be a useful tool, and I have a feeling he's going to be doing most of the important things while Ace fumbles around hilariously.

There's some other interesting things like the PDA and "defibrillator" for resuscitating Ace after he gets injured that seem cool.

I like how it still plays like a 2d spacequest game even though the graphics are 3d. The demo has me excited for the artwork and music and all the different locations and goofy aliens. It's very two-guys-ish

 

[Infinitron]

Oh my, I totally forgot to sign up for an account on their website.

Somebody please share your impressions of the demo.

I'm pretty sure I never actually got my login information. Perhaps you didn't either?

Bugging them now: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects...ure-by-the-creators-of-space-que/posts/327744

 

[Crooked Bee]

Hmm, maybe. I can't really recall.

 

[Stabwound]

Can we get some screenshots, or does this thing have an NDA?

 

[Infinitron]

Hmm, maybe. I can't really recall.

Oh hey, the guy replies fast! Got my login and password.

 

[bertram_tung]

I generally agree with this post from the official spaceventure forums:

Can't say I particularly care for the swipe controls myself. It feels like a cheap tacked-on gimmick that was thrown in to appeal to the tablet crowd. Since I have no intention whatsoever to play this on a tablet, I do hope that this swiping nonsense is made optional in the final (PC version of the) game.

Opening the game with some nondescript crate-shoving puzzle doesn't exactly get me excited either.

Too bad, since the graphics look nice and Ken Allen seriously outdid himself with this score. But lackluster gameplay, overall buggyness and the nonresponsive controls (again, kind of sad, since the icon interface itself looks and feels so much better than, say, LSL Reloaded) have kept me from playing the demo for more than a few minutes.

I think it's a bit negative considering this is an ALPHA demo, but I can't say I really disagree, either.

 

[jfrisby]

I've enjoyed what I've managed to play so far - I thought the swipe stuff I've encountered was alright (after adjusting to it), and had potential as a mechanic - not that I would condone many sliding-tile-esque puzzles or anything. Lots of rough edges on the UI, but if anything it seemed like a more complex version of the old-school interface rather than particularly tablet(or user)-friendly. Unfinished descriptions/unlabled-hotspots makes it feel like a difficult game, but that may go away as they polish (screw hotspot labels!). Pretty responsive-feeling animations/controls (when they work) - which was nice [after Moebius]. Long way to go.

 

[Blackthorne]

I liked it - it looks pretty nice, but I really, really think Unity is not suited to making 2D animated adventure games. The controls are very clunky, hotspots are hard to interact with... the UI is just a bit off - I even felt it during LSLR - you have to make special tools to make a 2D adventure game for Unity, and I don't think it's quite there yet.


Bt

 

[bertram_tung]

heres a playthrough of the demo by some annoying guy on youtube for those unable to play but wanting to see it in action:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcBgKrcEKQ4

 

[suejak]

That looks awful. The overuse of swipe mechanics alone was enough to make me sick of it. They promise a nostalgic throwback and they deliver an iPhone game that will get them back to the glory days.

I didn't see any charm, wit, or interesting puzzles in that entire thing. Just pushing crates and 3D sight puzzles.

Talentless hacks.

 

[Infinitron]

That looks awful. The overuse of swipe mechanics alone was enough to make me sick of it. They promise a nostalgic throwback and they deliver an iPhone game that will get them back to the glory days.

I didn't see any charm, wit, or interesting puzzles in that entire thing. Just pushing crates and 3D sight puzzles.

Talentless hacks.

But is it better than the other Sierra adventure game Kickstarters?

 

[m_s0]

The puzzles look terrible so far, swiping on PC needs to go, writing seems subpar. Alpha is alpha, but sadly I don't see anything even remotely promising atm. Hopefully it won't turn out to be complete garbage, but my expectations dropped significantly after watching that vid.

 

[Pyke]

Releasing something in Alpha for public consumption is just a terrible idea.

This current 'new' generation of Adventure Games have a very 'smooth' quality to them. Something that really stood out for me in DFA, and also in this...its something I don't know if I like. Older AG's tended to have a bit of 'clunkyness' to them, which was awesome. You didn't have to click in the EXACT right spot to do something...the interface had a bit of weight to it...I don't know how to explain it.

Something I did like about this was how they are embracing the different camera angles that going with 3D characters allows, and doing some nice things with the lighting of the character (mainly visible in that overhead view when he is standing in the doorway).

Although strangely I got more excited at the sight of Roger's sock and uniform, than I did at anything else.

 

[m_s0]

Releasing something in Alpha for public consumption is just a terrible idea.

It's backers-only as far as I can tell, so it's not quite public. It definitely makes sense for a Kickstarter project, but I really hope that what they decided to showcase is in no way indicative of what they're aiming for.

 

[Pyke]

You're still opening it up to 10 000 people, and with the interwebs being what it is, it WILL get leaked to the general public. Thats A LOT of people to show something buggy and unfinished to! If they were releasing something they should have polished the shit out of it until it shone like the Cullinan Diamond. Even if its just the first 4/5 rooms.

I still really liked what I saw in the YouTube video. I liked how the things you needed to interact with blended in seamlessly with the environment - its just a pity that the guy was too scared to try any of the cool stuff (deaths dammit!) for fear of needing to restart.

 

[Infinitron]

I don't know how to explain it.

I do. You're nostalgic for 320x200 resolution.

 

[FeelTheRads]

I don't know how to explain it.

I do. You're nostalgic for 320x200 resolution.

You're getting to suejak levels of retardation. Just so you know.

Not that being nostalgic for that is bad, but it's retarded to claim that to be the reason. Sorry, Infinitron, but you're a newfag both in adventures and in RPGs and act like the typical newfag who thinks people like old stuff only because of nostalgia.